Training vs. Overtraining

Always a delicate balance! You want to train as hard as you can to be sure you are well prepared. There is,unfortunately, a downside to too much training. After last weekends set of really hard workouts I hit the zone where your body tells you..."you are over training". My Wednesday Night ride is always one of my favorites! Always sprited, even when the racers are in off-season. Usually lots of trash talk leading up to it. I'll go into the office at 4AM in order to make it there for the 6PM start. This Wednesday was NOT fun. The big miles, being sick (and crazy work) I've been putting in without a rest...finally caught up with me. I had nothing in the tank and got dropped from the main group early into the ride. Then got dropped by the second group and,thankfully, managed to hang onto the last few guys...or I'd probably still be out there! The "Roadies" had a field day as you can see by the photo snapped from a forum post. That was not a good day...but, it did make me take some time off the bike and start to taper down my training so I am back in peak form for April 23!